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On Sunday, the Connecticut Centinal documented what Westport residents had been screaming about for weeks: nighttime crews stripping clams, steamers, mussels, and blue crabs from Old Mill and Compo while night harvesting is banned statewide, limits exist, and nobody in town hall, the police department, or the governor’s office seemed interested.
Days later, Connecticut State Environmental Conservation Police announced they arrested two people overnight in West Haven harbor after boaters complained that illegal nets were fouling motors and turning a working harbor into a snare.
Qidong Chen and Yuqing Lin, both 53 and of Meriden, were charged with commercial fishing without a license, fishing for summer flounder without the required endorsement, possession of 15 undersize summer flounder, illegal harvest of 99 eastern oysters, shellfishing after sunset, and possession of 51 undersize blue crabs.
The minimum legal size for commercially harvested summer flounder in Connecticut is 14 inches. The smallest fish they seized measured 3.5 inches. That is not sport. That is vacuuming the nursery.
The nets came out of the water and were confiscated. The seized fish were donated to A Place Called Hope, the raptor rehabilitation center in Killingworth, so at least the birds of prey get a meal out of the poaching.
EnCon Police pointed out size limits and harvest hours exist so these species can reach reproductive age, and so the commercial fishermen who follow the law are not undercut by those who do not. Fish and game crimes are not “victimless.” The victims are the resource, the legal fishermen, and the boaters who almost wrapped a net around a propeller.
The pattern in West Haven is similar to what the Centinal documented in Westport: take what you want, after dark if necessary, skip the license, skip the size limit and ignore the hours.
A lot of people in Fairfield County profess to care for the environment. Do they really mean it, or is it just a political talking point? Because if they mean it, they should be up in arms about illegal harvesting.
Legal commercial fishermen buy licenses, follow endorsements, measure fish, and work inside seasons written so stocks can reproduce. They get undercut by illegal harvesters who treat Long Island Sound like an all-you-can-carry buffet.
Please be sure to report any and all suspected fish and wildlife violations to DEEP Emergency Dispatch at 860-424-3333.
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